Fashion

Wearing it well

Champions Journal art director (and Arsenal fan) Oliver Meikle, and a few other members of the team, went along to the launch of Classic Football Shirts' biggest ever exhibition earlier this week. Handily their shop at the Old Truman Brewery is just down the road from our office, so they didn’t have far to go to take in more than 500 shirts – and one or two famous faces while they were at it. Plus, as Oliver explains here, it was all helpful research for the next time he directs the shoot for our Classic Cut Shirts' spread in the magazine…

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The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

Fashion

Wearing it well

Champions Journal art director (and Arsenal fan) Oliver Meikle, and a few other members of the team, went along to the launch of Classic Football Shirts' biggest ever exhibition earlier this week. Handily their shop at the Old Truman Brewery is just down the road from our office, so they didn’t have far to go to take in more than 500 shirts – and one or two famous faces while they were at it. Plus, as Oliver explains here, it was all helpful research for the next time he directs the shoot for our Classic Cut Shirts' spread in the magazine…

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The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

The exhibition was a categorised journey through football shirts. There was a section with the shirts of Champions League winners, which was cool. We were trying to work out which ones they had on display that we’d previously borrowed for one of our shoots! I spotted an AC Milan one and an Ajax one that we’ve featured.

What I particularly liked was the bit of nostalgia they had. They had one cabinet with different pairs of shorts in it, including the old Arsenal ones that had the red zig-zag down the side, which I remember from being a kid. And they had another cabinet with a load of the little Corinthians football figures – I used to get those from Woolworths.

The exhibition reminded me of the variety, colour and great sense of scale there is to all of these kits and what they entail. There’s so much iconic stuff but loads of other treasures that you forget about. It was almost overwhelming. They had an AC Milan shirt from the 1960s and it was fascinating to feel the material and see the simplicity of it, with a massive sewn-on badge and a big collar that looked like it was made out of felt. Contrast that to today’s shirts – it’s quite mad.

We actually spotted Paul Gascoigne as we were walking in and we were like, “Oh my God… Gazza’s going to be here!” I wasn’t expecting that. A presenter ran through his career in shirts, set up on three rails, as he interviewed him. Gazza was on sparkling form – he had so many anecdotes and a razor-sharp memory. He was talking about when he played for Lazio in the 1990s and how great the AC Milan team was that he played against. It was nice to see him looking well and being so funny.

It was great to see Ian Wright too – I didn’t get a chance to have much of a conversation with him but I did manage to get a photo, like a complete fanboy. He was on a panel with Gazza and a few others, including the owner of Classic Football Shirts. They showed Wrighty the bruised banana shirt from the Nineties and he said that at the time, he didn’t want to wear it and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?” Just shows how opinions can change.

I met Leah Williamson too, who plays for the Arsenal women’s team. She was just in the crowd, having come back from playing at the Olympics in Tokyo. She was cool, very fashionable, I enjoyed meeting her.

The exhibition has given me some inspiration for our shoots in the magazine. It’s always a challenge for us to keep things fresh and find interesting angles. What’s the best way to show off a shirt? It will push us to be a bit more creative.

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